Dr. Katherine Ford joined the Nutrition & Aging Lab in September 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow. Katherine is a Registered Dietitian and is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-Mitacs Health System Impact Fellow with the Canadian Nutrition Society. She is co-supervised by Prof. Heather Keller and Dr. Leah Gramlich. During her fellowship, Katherine is supporting the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force with integrating a malnutrition care standard in Canadian hospitals. Advancing Malnutrition Care Phase I is an innovative program that uses a mentor-champion model to implement and sustain best practices from the Integrated Nutrition Pathway for Acute Care (INPAC).
Prior to joining the Nutrition & Aging lab, Katherine completed a PhD at the University of Alberta where she investigated the determinants of protein intake and the role of a high protein diet in maintaining muscle mass during chemotherapy treatment for colorectal cancer. She also holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from the University of Prince Edward Island. Katherine utilizes her experience as Dietitian to bring a clinical perspective to her research and is interested in better understanding the impact of nutritional assessment and interventions on patient-oriented outcomes and how to spread and scale effective interventions.